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Monday, March 24, 2014

A Garden of Savings Tips Submitted by Readers

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant and
the citizen its sheep. ~

Useful Gems submitted by subscribers

The ship is
sinking, but if you are well-prepared, you already have your lifeboat…

53 percent of all Americans do not
even have a 3 day supply of nonperishable food and water in their homes.
What will they do when a major crisis or emergency strikes? Do they
actually believe that the government will swoop in to save them if something
happens?

44 percent of all Americans do not
have a first-aid kit in their homes.

48 percent of all Americans do not
have any emergency supplies stored up at all.

Prepare Now,

Survive Later!

Backyard Garden Boxes - On the Cheap!

My family decided to create some backyard,
above-ground, garden boxes since the soil where we live is rock-hard and not
easily manageable. We wanted to keep expenses on this project low so we chose
materials and methods accordingly.There are many ways to go about this
project--some more effective and some more expensive than others. I am sharing
our build experience to illustrate how we handled this project based on our needs and resources.

“When
my husband and I first combined finances, I was shocked to find out all of the
different insurance premiums we were paying throughout the year. Health
insurance aside, we had bills for house insurance, life insurance, car
insurance, ATV insurance, and the list goes on.

After being caught off guard with an $800 insurance bill, I sat down and made a
list of every type of insurance we had, how much the premium was, and when it
was due. I then did some simple math of adding all the premiums together and
dividing by 52. I opened a separate savings account (super quick to do thanks
to the ease of online banking), and each week an automatic transfer puts that
designated amount into our "insurance savings account." Now whenever
the insurance premiums pop up, I just go to that savings account and the money
is already there!”
Mandy in Virginia

A Garden of Savings
You may think that you are unable to grow food because you don't have enough
room. However, with some knowledge and a little ingenuity, you might be able to
grow quite a bit right where you are.

Dinner's ready when you come
home from work with these all-day slow cooker recipesread
more here

Easy Clean Containers
To get odors and stains out of plastic containers, baby bottles, and glasses or
juice containers, use a denture tablet. Generic brands work fine. Fill the
container with water. Add one denture tablet and allow the tablet to dissolve.
This will rid the object of stains and odors.>>JP

The Benefits of Living on Limited Income
Whether it is living on one income and being able to stay at home with kids or
if it is a change in a job with a pay cut to go along with it, there are many
good things about limited resources if you just look for them.

Inspecting Your Roof for Winter Damage
Before you get busy with spring activities, it is important to take a look at
your home and the surroundings to assess the damage caused by snow. The roof is
the most vulnerable to damage from a severe winter and a thorough inspection is
necessary to pinpoint any problems that might have cropped up as a result. Read more.

DIY easy solar hot water heater

Build It Solar has a great DIY article about an
easy solar hot water heater (a thermosyphon system) made by a resident of Costa
Rica named Peter. Peter wanted to build a simple, rugged, inexpensive system to
provide hot water for showers:

Even without a garden you can
benefit from cheap compostread
more here

Aeolos Vertical Wind Turbine

Aeolos small vertical wind turbines from WindTurbineStar
are usually used in off grid systems together with a 24v or 48v battery bank.
They come in 300, 600, and 1000 W models, and are used for street lights,
boats, home and telecom towers.

Aeolos-V 1kw can also be used with an on grid application
when connected to an SMA Windy Boy 1100LV inverter.

This week’s winning tip--The Tool Man won the last
of our Silver Eagles for March

We buy our breads and buns
plus some meat and cheese from a local flea market vendor.Yeah, the stuff is outdated but it still
toasts up fine and everything else tastes good.We save 2/3rd over the grocer on English muffins, raisin
bread, rye and other expensive breads.>>TheToolMan